Stark contrast as Everton get their act together but dithering Leeds look lost

THE fury came billowing out as the game careered towards its inevitable conclusion. As another attack broke down, with their team trailing, Leeds fans took aim at the directors’ box. ‘Orta! It’s time to go,’ they hollered, repeating it for added emphasis. ‘Orta, Orta! It’s time to go.’ Down in Goodison Park’s tunnel, after another defeat, the man central to those chants looked befuddled. Victor Orta, director of football at Elland Road, is no closer to appointing a permanent manager and the longer he dithers, the more likely it is that Leeds will be relegated. It is two weeks since Jesse Marsch was sacked, and in that time Orta has pursued more false leads than Inspector Clouseau, chief among them being the idea that he would be able to free Feyenoord’s Arne Slot from a watertight contract in the Netherlands. Every hour that passes without decisive action being taken, the more vulnerable Orta becomes. The indication is that Michael Skubala will continue in temporary charge, but a managerial novice cannot be expected to mastermind an escape from peril. To see Skubala in the technical area, watching and waiting and working out what changes to make, it was impossible not to see the stark difference in the way Sean Dyche, along with his assistants Ian Woan and Steve Stone, operated. Everton, for once, acted decisively when replacing Frank Lampard with Dyche at the end of January. They, too, have plenty of work to do if they are to stay up, but on Saturday’s evidence, only one of these teams will be going down — and it wasn’t the one wearing royal blue. It is now 10 games since Leeds won in the league and they look lost. Their football lacked any kind of direction and only poor finishing from Everton kept them in the game. But there was nothing poor about Seamus Coleman’s volley from an improbable angle that led to a visceral roar around the stadium. If ever a player epitomised the best qualities of the fans he represents — honesty, hard work and commitment — it is Coleman. ‘There’s no getting away from it — it’s been an extremely tough couple of years,’ he said of his club’s struggles. ‘But I have always been a fighter and we’ve got fighters in that dressing room.’ Those words made you believe Everton will, eventually, be all right. You could not, though, think the same about Leeds.